Wrong Wrong Wrong
The Silliness Of Rumors
Over at Only Baseball Matters, a couple of weeks ago, the always uplifting topic of peds was brought up. Why? Because the ESPN (Especially Specious and Perfidious Network) decided to spread a rumor started by the New York Times based on an unnamed source, that temporary SF Giants bench player Jose Guillen was linked to a federal investigation to somebody who may or may not have been supplying HGH to athletes; and as a result Bud Selig forced the Giants to kick Guillen off the post-season roster. For the record, the Giants deny this whole scenario; and from Guillen’s performance, that doesn’t sound like a stretch. But then when it comes to Selig and the Giants front office, your guess is as good as the guy reading this over your shoulder.
Unforgettable – No not You Jose
Nice timing right? Jose Guillen has almost 7000 plate appearances in his Major League career. About 140 of them were scattered over a couple of months with the Giants before he was sent packing at the conclusion of the regular season. His contributions to the Giants in his few weeks there will be remembered for about as long as the sunflower seed shells he spit on the dugout floor. Outside of a 6 RBI game, his contributions to the Giants success were infinitesimal. About what one would expect from a AAA player if you’re to believe such metrics; and in this case I sure do.
The problem, however, is not that Guillen has an HGH problem; it’s that he has a personality problem. Five days after he signed a $36 Million contract with Kansas City, Bud Selig’s boys decided to suspend him for 15 days for allegedly being connected to HGH. What-the-hell-ever. Where once his amazing talent was enough to outweigh his particular quirks, now they are not. He makes for good media copy though, and in a media environment where there is little imagination, gossiping about a has-been player with annoying habits, has become the order of the day.
More Speculation – Like Fish Gone Bad
Some folks believe that Guillen isn’t the only one helping himself to the medicinal wonders of HGH, but that others may be as well. A guy we talked to, thinks that besides Jose Guillen, possibly Aubrey Huff, Andres Torres, Pat Burrell, Edgar Renteria, and possibly a couple of others are using HGH. Not because its wrong or cheating, but because it speeds recovery, heals tissue, and is about 49 times more effective than NSAIDs, (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and doesn’t tear up stomach lining the way NSAIDs do.
Seems to me, that if one’s career is on the line and millions of dollars are in play, every remedy possible is going to be considered. Especially if there is little or nothing to lose. One could even go so far as to claim they would be doing themselves, their teams, and the fans a disservice by not going to any length possible to remain in peak physical condition.
Including spring training games which start in March, the Giants and Rangers will have played over 200 games by the time the World Series was settled; mere weeks before Thanksgiving and only 30 damned shopping days ’til Christmas. That is an ungodly amount of baseball and competition. If you don’t think that breaks the mind and the body down, you haven’t been watching the post-season.
Well, Duh
Has anybody considered that just possibly the reason Tampa let Burrell go and Detroit let Huff go and KC let Guillen go was that their employer’s were convinced that these players’ bodies were breaking/broken down by age, injury, fatigue and simply not able to compete over the course of a 7 month season any longer? And that with nothing to lose with a minimal chance of getting "busted" by the piss police, they just might want to speed their recovery process, ameliorate the not insignificant pain that injuries and damaged tissue create and keep making millions per year playing ball? And the only thing they have to do is seek out the most cutting edge sports medicine available, and get the treatment necessary to keep on keeping on? You have to be crazy not to.
With good sports medicine, good players’ careers can be extended, optimized and enjoyed by fans. HGH and other recuperative pharmaceuticals are widely available and used and anybody who doesn’t believe that is simply denying the obvious.
Dear Mainstream Baseball Writers: Think Twice – Speak Once
I really wish folks would take the time to read John Perricone’s essays and Eric Walker’s research. (Walker worked as a special assistant to Sandy Alderson when Alderson was running the Oakland A’s organization) Read about the actual medical research at top University medical schools, without the hysteria of media and cheating and all the "noise" that is irrelevant to the actual disposition of HGH, anabolic steroids and other so-called controversial sports remedies, surgeries, medicinal and pharmaceutical treatments. Read the opinions of the preeminent Doctor Norman Fost, professor of pediatrics and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin
The hysteria over peds is little different than the Salem Witch trials of the 17th century. Given the supposed advances in critical thinking American Society has supposedly undergone in the ensuing three-plus centuries, the argument could be made that it is even more shameful.
Shame and Innuendo – About No Real Wrong Really
The people who condone and subscribe and spread this hysteria should be ashamed of themselves. Especially Bud Selig who has encouraged the mob psychology with an eye on lining his own pockets with even more cash (as if a $20 Million salary per year and a bronze statue were not enough). His overwhelming need for approval and money have made him the worst kind of person to stand up for the players and the game. Though a fan he may be, he does not grasp the mindset of those who are in the employ of his masters.
Especially former US Senator George Mitchell for his outrageous reliance upon a tawdry discredited book and incomplete third-hand testimony to condemn ballplayers. Too many years of being a pampered political heavyweight have rendered him completely inept in his capacity to understand the working athlete.
Especially the United States Justice Department for turning loose a petty failed athlete, turned jealous IRS agent to abuse the U.S. Constitution and make a mockery of the most basic of freedoms granted by the Declaration of Independence, predicated upon unsubstantiated and deceitful propaganda of the worst sort.
The Blind And Deaf And Dumb Reporting On The Dishonest
And most especially, all but a few in mainstream media, and network and cable-TV. The blowhards in New York and Boston and Washington and Los Angeles for perpetrating the myths and ignorance, the lies, the innuendos, and character assassinations.
Even Peter Gammons Is Sick of It.
For enabling the criminal minds and the petty and greedy selfish charlatans who operate under the phony disgraceful abuse of "law and order"and blame innocent people for things that they have no control over. Their collective behavior is so bad that even Peter Gammons called them out on it, though if not by name, by indirect inference–have to protect the brotherhood you know:
"Perricone criticized some writers who really care about baseball and their kids and what has become so ugly. But it’s not just Barry Bonds, Bobby Estalella and Alex Rodriguez — it’s societal, and as Bill Gilbert pointed out in the first year of the Nixon presidency, has been for generations.
Warped Perspective. No Context. No Truth
And most importantly to all of the above writers and so called "guardians of the game" for not providing any context to their specious opinions, accusations, and pontifications.
And most sickeningly for a warped sense of perspective and priorities. Jackasses. All of them. Rome burned for a reason.
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